Broken Wings
by Jukia Wolfcall
Summary: Blond hair. Blue eyes. Eighteen. A body that could kill. A tatoo of a broken heart. No freinds. No family. Nothing to lose. Meet Jennifer. She saves him. But can he save her?
1. Death is only forever

Disclaimer: I don't own stuff you recognize. Poof.  
Ok. These ~ ~ Mean some one is thinking.  
These " " Mean some one is talking.  
These * * mean some one is talking mentally with some one else.  
  
The phone rang.  
Without opening her eyes, she rolled over and tried to grab her cell off her nightstand.  
The phone rang again. Then it started playing the credit song from 'The Labyrinth.'  
Her hand closed on the black, beeping menace.  
She shoved her pillows away from her face and pushed the talk button.  
"It's 3 O'clock in the freaking morning. What the hell do you want?"  
The voice on the other end paused. Then said slowly. "Jennifer? It's your mother."  
Jennifer smiled to herself. "Hello Mother." She sneered  
"I. I just wanted to know if you got your birth-day present."  
"Yeah. I got it. I got it four months late, but I guess it's the thought that count's, isn't it?"  
Another pause. "Did you read it?  
"Considering I got it eight weeks ago I would say yes."  
"Look!" Came the sudden outburst. "I try and call you to be nice, now hang up or be civil!"  
Completely unfazed, Jennifer laughed. "Don't give me a chance like that. Who knows? Maybe if I did hang up, I would get some freaking rest."  
Her mother seemed to give up. She tried to change the subject. "Did you like it?"  
"What? The Labyrinth? I thought it was a load of bull. It's just another book. Some thing you give to a twelve year old in a pinch. Where were you when I was twelve? Oh yeah! I forgot! You weren't here."  
"Well." She stammered. "I thought because you liked the movie so much, you would like the book."  
Jennifer sighed. "Their both false dreams, mother. I'm a grown up now. I don't need this kid-fairy-tail shit any more."  
"Oh. Uh. Well then. I . . . Good-bye. I love you."  
"Sure. What ever." She pressed the talk button again and truly hoped her mother was as sleep deprived as she was.  
Jennifer slammed the phone back onto the table and pulled her blankets up over her head.  
"I don't wanna wake up this early!" She complained to herself.  
Her eyes closed. She slowly began to relax. She was almost asleep when-  
SNAP!  
"HOLY SWEET JESUS!" She shouted and jumped out of her bed.  
No other sound.  
"Oh, no. No. No. No, no, no." She whined. "Not again!"  
She pushed her nightstand back and saw that the answer was indeed, yes.  
The little grayish mouse didn't have a chance. The bar of the mousetrap had broken its neck as soon as it stepped onto the trap.  
Jennifer stared at it along time. She hated it when things died. It made her sad.  
"You know what?" she asked the corpse. "I'm not going to throw you out. I'm going to leave you there for a few hours as a little remembrance to your fellow mousies to get the hell outta my house."  
She sat down on her bed and grabbed her head in her hands.  
"Jesus Christ. You were talking to a dead mouse."  
She looked around. Her bed with the dark blue coverlet looked like she had tried to kill it. Half her pillows were on the thick blue carpet. Her cream colored drapes held the windows closed. Her closet door was slightly open and her nightstand was pulled into the middle of the room.  
"Aw hell! I'm not getting any more sleep tonight."  
She rifled around in her closet until she found something suitable to wear.  
When she found it, off went her boxers and tank top. On went the one thing she felt like wearing.  
~Sure. It's a little depressing, but that's how I feel. ~ She thought as she looked at herself in the mirror. ~You know, this is sad. I should be a model or whatever. Not unemployed cause I refuse to sell my body~  
It was true. Her figure was one that the guys in high school dated. Her mind may have been a little disturbed, but every boy wanted her. Her straight blond hair and creamy blue eyes could pull men from their wives and girl friends in a heartbeat. But she wanted none of that.  
Now she was wearing cloths a Goth would happily don. The black dress was jaggedly cut above her knees with black beads jingling around the hemline. Her hair was bleached blond with black streaks in it and smoothly fell over her strapless shoulders. The bodice of the dress was tight over her chest. Just under her chin rested a black leather spiked collar. That and the spiked heels made her look beautiful and intimidating at once.  
Her red lips frowned. ~You look like a whore. ~  
She brushed her hair back with the back of her hand so she could see the blood red tattoo of a broken heart on her left shoulder. She calmly ran her dark tinted nails on it.  
~Cheers, my friend. ~ She though grimly. ~And to all the males that may hurt us~  
She stepped away from the mirror then turned her back to it and walked out of her bedroom.  
  
"Is there NOTHING good on the T freaking V at this hour?!" She shouted.  
Ok. So there was Sesame Street. And then there were several soaps. And an X rated movie that she wasn't interested in. Oh yeah, there was also dead air.  
~What kind of demented children would be up at this hour watching Sesame Street? ~  
She flipped a few more channels and finally, exhausted, stopped on a documentary on owls.  
"Owls are creatures of the night that both intrigue and terrify humans." Droned the boring voice.  
"Yeah. No shit Sherlock." Jennifer growled. This reminded her of the Goblin King.  
She changed the channel.  
"Thinking of renting a house? Why rent one when you can buy one?" Asked a sales clerk.  
Jennifer pressed the power button.  
She could imagine the high and mighty Goblin King. "Thinking of committing suicide? Why do that when you can wish your-self away?"  
~Admit it. You chose this outfit thinking how funny it would be if you were found dead in it.~ Exclaimed a little voice that may have been her conscience.  
"Bug off." She grumbled.  
~It's True!~  
"Fine. You're right. Happy?"  
~Yes~ It said smugly.  
"Yeah. Suicide. Death. What ever. Life can't get worse. Life can't get better. I'm screwed. No one cares. So there, little pain in the ass voice I thought would leave me alone after I got that tattoo, so there."  
She thought for a moment. What was there left to lose any way?  
"Jareth? Oh Goblin King. I wish the goblins would come and take me away right now."  
All her lights were out so she couldn't tell if there was a power outage. It was all ready stormy outside but there was no sudden crack of lightning. Her windows all stayed closed.  
So she waited.  
And nothing happened.  
"Hello, Goblin King. Did you not hear me? I wish the goblins will come and take me away right now."  
And still nothing.  
"Great. Wonderful." She muttered.  
She turned the owl show back on.  
~I don't need to know how to set a barn owls broken wing, dumb ass. I'm not even going to see the fucking sun rise~  
After it was over she stood up. Rain hit her windows. It was pitch black out side.  
~Lets go for a walk. ~  
  
"Great! Prefect! I get my scrawny little ass outside to walk in the freaking rain and it STOPS!" Jennifer shouted in anger. "This is just swell! I didn't get to wish myself away, and now it's not raining!"  
She had meant to get to her thinking place, a small grove of trees that no one else seemed to see that had a large rock perfect for sitting on in the middle. No beer cans or used needles. She wanted to decided if this truly would be the last walk in the rain. But, Lo, no freaking rain!  
~Sure, the park is nice. Lots of trees. No homeless bums. It's nice. But I just don't want to see it any more. I don't wanna see, what the hell is that?! ~  
Underneath a huge pine tree was a disoriented blob of white.  
On closer approach, it was a barn owl.  
"Why hello there." Jennifer said calmly. "I saw you on T.V. a bit ago."  
She moved closer. The poor thing seemed close to panic. It tried to move away from her, tried to fly, but some thing was wrong with it's left wing.  
"Hey there, little guy. Did you decided to run into a tree?" she asked softly. "It's alright. I'm Jennifer. You can call me Jen. I suppose I'll call you Jareth."  
She thought the owl froze for a moment then decided it hadn't and she was just insane.  
"Do you wanna come with me? We can get that broken wing up and good in a few weeks. Aren't you glad I didn't kill myself and leave you to the raccoons?"  
The owl, though almost dead, was still a bitch to pick up. It kept struggling and at one point, took a piece of Jen's thumb with it. But after nearly an hour of fighting, they were both back at Jen's flat, Jennifer covered in blood from her hands and the owl dazed from getting knocked unconscious, twice.  
"So. You can change back. I know who you are." She informed the preening owl once they were both settled on her bed. The owl kept preening.  
"Ok." Jen said slowly. "Maybe it's something with cloths. I'll turn away if that's it." She left the room for a few minuets.  
When she came back all the difference in the owl was that a bit of blood the she had assumed was her turned out to be from where the bone had come through the skin.  
"Wonderful." She glared at the blood on her bed cloths. "do you mind if I turn on some music?"  
The bird did nothing.  
She walked over to her stereo. She flipped the switch.  
"If you like Pina Colata's, Or getting caught in the rain"  
Jen shouted in rage. "WHAT THE HELL!"  
She turned on her CD. "How can you see into my eyes, like open doors?"  
She sang along with the lyrics and turned it up.  
She got all the stuff out she would need. Then turned to the owl.  
"I have two things to say. This will hurt like hell. If you shit on my bed I will kill you." 


	2. But down in the underground

Disclaimer: I don't own an owl. I wish I did. I asked for one for my b-day, but, no. Any who. I don't own anyone you recognize from elsewhere. A/N: Jennifer was the first name in my head. She has no relevance to living people. Her name could have been Beth. Or Riana. Anything.  
  
Ok. These ~ ~ Mean some one is thinking. These " " Mean some one is talking. These * * mean some one is talking mentally with some one else.  
  
"Oh gross." Jen commented mildly. "Have you ever heard that word, cause, oh god that is sick." The owl looked up at her innocently then prodded the ball of bone and hair that he had recently thrown up with a talon. "Ew." Muttered Jen. "That's just, just." She threw her hands up into the air in frustration. She paced for a moment then glared at the owl. "I hope you realize that YOUR picking that up, cause there's no way in hell that I'm going to touch a dead mouse, that sat in a mouse trap for two hours, that was in your mouth, that you swallowed whole, that you puked up. So uh- uh. Your picking that up." He stared at her. "Stop it." She groaned His big black eyes looked deeply into hers. "Quit! Your not psyching my out with your eyes!" He watched her a bit longer before looking away, pointedly turning so she could see her handy work.  
  
~*Flash back*~  
  
The owl hissed and puffed up. "Jesus! What are you? A cat?" Jen hissed back. It glared at her and shuffled to the other side of the bed, it's injured wing dragging behind it. "Look! I'm trying to fix it!" She held up a bag of cotton balls and a red and white patterned bandana up as proof. The owl just looked back at her. She studied it. It looked scared, like this had never, EVER happened to it before. It's black eyes were full of reproach. It was crouched in a defensive way that twisted its wing terribly. It's heart-shaped white face followed her every move and kept it's black eyes on her face. "Let me help you, Jareth!" She growled. She named the owl Jareth, whether that was who it truly was or not. The owl hooted softly with pain but held it's ground. Jen moved closer. The owl shuffled away. "Your spreading blood all over me bed." She said dryly. It moved a bit more. Jen pounced. She landed on the owl some how with out crushing it. It screamed in alarm then promptly took a chunk out of her arm. "DOES HUMAN TASTE GOOD, LITTLE YOU MONSTER?!" She shouted while wrestling with its talons. The owl fought beak and claw to get out from under her but in the end, she was sitting on it, effectively pinning its legs beneath it, holding both wings to its body with one hand and holding its head with the other. It shrieked weakly. It tried to turn its head and found itself completed stuck under Jen. Instincts took over and it went limp. Jen, without taken off her weight all the way, slowly spread out the injured wing. The owl made low whimpering noises that she didn't know birds could make. Jen's stomach flip-flopped. The white bone was stained red and stuck out from the feathers. The bone was, how ever, broken cleanly. She resisted the urge to prod the protruding bone. Swallowing hard she gently pushed it back into place. The owl had gone strangely quiet. She pulled out the bandanna and carefully wrapped up the wing and tied it tightly, eliciting a shrill cry from the owl.  
  
~*End Flash Back*~  
  
Jen frowned with boredom. She had kept all the shades drawn, unsure of how well owls liked sunlight, and had used the dead mouse from earlier to feed her new houseguest. She picked him up and went into her living room. The large T.V. was against the far wall and she sat down on the couch and turned on a movie. The owls' eyes went wide and it shuffled around for a moment. "Chill. It's a movie. Nothing to be afraid of." Then the sound came on. "It's only forever!" Blared out the first few words. "Not long at all, you're lost and you're lonely." The owl settled down after the first song and watched the movie, but was still slightly tense. Jen shrugged it off and watched Jareth with her heart in the movie. "Sarah was really stupid, don't you think?" She inquired The owl didn't respond. They didn't speak again for a few more hours.  
  
Jen walked in the front door, from going to the pet store. A few live mice were scrabbling inside of a small cardboard box. She had picked out the albino ones. She hated the beady little red eyes. She could live with see them fed to her hungry houseguest. He had settled down and now she knew some of his habits. Although he could still not fly, he liked sitting out on the front porch at night. He liked watching movies. One of his favorites was Lord of the Rings. He seemed entranced whenever the ring was in the movie. She really wanted to take him to the dollar theater so he could see The Two Towers, but owls' were not allowed. Whenever she had time on her hands she read to him. The first book she picked up was her birth-day present. He would eat mice in the kitchen and leave the remains near her garbage can. When she came home, he wasn't waiting for her by the front door. He wasn't watching the turned on TV. He wasn't in the kitchen. He wasn't caught in the closet. She had known that his wing was really close to being all the way healed and that he had been getting restless, but where was he. She wished she had never found out. "Jennifer?" Came a voice. It came from her bedroom. It was a voice she had heard before but couldn't place. A male voice. "Who the hell is here!?" She shouted. Jen hated herself for the fear in her voice. Still in the kitchen, she grabbed her biggest knife. "Come out and show your self, Pervert!" She demanded. He did. "Oh shit." Jen replied weakly. Her hand lost all grip on the knife. It fell down by her feet, the she herself fell to her own knees. "You aren't real." She informed him. He smirked. "Aren't I?" He asked rhetorically. "No. Your not." She said, slowly getting back her sense. He seemed put out. He ran his hand through a wisp of silvery hair. "Then what am I?" "A. . ." She paused. "You can't be real." She ended with a weak whisper. "I am, Jennifer." "Bull shit." He got angry. "Do not defy me. You wished yourself away, now you must take the consequences." She looked him up and down then struggled to her feet. She'd be damned if she stayed at his feet like some sort of servant. "You can't be real. No males are secure enough to wear pants like that." Caught off guard, he looked down, so see what was wrong with his pants. He couldn't see anything different so he ignored that. "Come come now." He berated. He offered her a black leather gloved hand. "We must be going. The Labyrinth needs my the knife at him presents." Jennifer took another knife off the knife rack beside her. "You can't make me go anywhere! I helped you! You owe me!" She pointed the tip of. "True" He said slowly. "But that can be repaid underground." Jennifer fell back to her knees, the knife caught in a white-knuckled grip. "Please no." She whispered. He said nothing. "Please. I don't want to go to the underground. It was a stupid wish. I don't want to go." She begged. She didn't care how weak it made her look, she wanted to stay. "What's said is said." He told her. "Please Jareth. Have a heart." "I'm sorry, but this is not how I can repay you debt." After arguing and begging. Shouts and sobs, Jennifer finally took Jareth's hand and was whisked away to the underground. 


End file.
